UMF Men's college basketball 69 at UNE 67

WATERVILLE, Maine — Drew Coveney (Londonderry, N.H.) canned a three-pointer as time expired to give the University of New England men’s basketball team a 69-67 come-from-behind triumph over the University of Maine at Farmington on day two of the Charlie Ryan Classic on Saturday (Nov. 19) at Thomas College’s Larry Mahaney Gymnasium.

The Nor’easters (1-2) needed to rally from a 17-point deficit (63-46) with 6:11 remaining to make it happen. Coveney started the run with a triple, and Daron Hoges, Jr. (West Orange, N.J.) eventually tied things up at 65-all with 1:24 left. Hoges accounted for all of his five points in the stretch.

After a miss by the Beavers (0-2), Jean-Luc Parker (Georgetown, Texas) gave UNE the lead (66-65) with 0:40 on the clock by converting a free throw. Though the second did not go, Hoges grabbed the offensive board, forcing UMF to foul again. Coveney came up empty on both tries, leaving the door open for the opponent.

UMaine Farmington exited a timeout with 0:17 showing and worked Jimmie Chaisson open for a go-ahead jumper, only to have Coveney bounce back to steal the thunder at the horn.

Coveney ended with 19 points — that included five treys — and six rebounds. CJ Autry (Standish, Maine) tallied more than half of his 11 points at the line, and Drew Washington (Oak Harbor, Wash.) did his nine points of damage from deep. Drew Patno (Lunenburg, Mass.) notched eight points and a game-high 11 caroms off the bench. Parker had seven points and six assists.

For the Beavers, Isaac Witham hit six three-pointers and totaled 28 points. Bill Ruby had 10 points and eight rebounds.

While the Nor’easters were out-shot, percentage-wise (46%-39%), UNE did manage to control the glass by a 43-34 margin — a gap reflected almost completely on the offensive end (12-2).

An 11-0 spurt in less than two minutes during the 1st half gave Big Blue its largest lead of the contest at 25-18. However, UMF was up 36-34 at intermission. Witham then registered 13 of the 27 points that gave the Beavers their largest separation in the 2nd period.